1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to cooking apparatus and more particularly to a combined baking oven and automatic bread making apparatus.
2. Description of Related Art
During the past two decades different kinds of bread-making machines have been introduced to the consumer market. Each is adapted for automatically mixing and kneading dough after the necessary ingredients have been put into a receptacle or pan, letting the dough rise and baking a loaf of bread at a predetermined temperature and time. Programmed electronic circuitry is integrated into this apparatus to execute the different steps in their correct order and timing in respect of the kind of bread chosen. In this way all the user has to do is to place the correct ingredients into the baking pan and select the bread type corresponding to the ingredients.
Conventional bread-making apparatus essentially includes a baking pan provided with a kneading blade or blades in its bottom portion to be rotated by an electric motor for a predesignated period. The pan has an open top and is removable from the appliance for extracting the ready loaf and for cleaning purposes. When the pan is inserted in a baking chamber, the open top is closed tightly by a cover. The baking chamber contains a bottom heating element to be energized to the correct temperature and timing by electronic control circuitry. The air heated in the baking chamber transmits the heat energy to the dough in the baking pan. An outer housing encloses the baking chamber and contains, inter alia, the electric motor and drive for rotating the kneading blade or blades, the electronic circuitry and a keyboard for selecting the desired bread type.
U.S. Letters Pat. No. 5,584,233 (1996) to Glucksman et al. and assigned to the same assignee as the present invention discloses a bread-making apparatus that overcomes certain drawbacks of prior art bread-making apparatus. The apparatus disclosed in the patent is characterized by hot-air circulation through the space between the baking chamber and the outer housing. This arrangement highly improves the baking procedure by creating uniform temperature all over the side, the bottom and the top of the baking pan, and, as a consequence, uniform bread quality. Another feature of this bread maker is the cool outer housing permitting its manufacture from a plastic material.
U.S. Letters Pat. No. 5,445,061 (1995) to Barradas discloses a combination bread-making machine and cooker. The appliance is rectangular in shape and includes a lateral chamber, a bottom chamber and an oven chamber. An intermediate wall between the oven chamber and lateral chamber carries a heating element and fan with a baffle to conduct and direct heated air into the oven chamber and against the side walls thereby to augment the heat in the chamber. The bread pan has a central aperture through the bottom that resides on a bottom support plate within the oven chamber. A motor-driven shaft extends up through that opening and is connected to a kneading blade. With this construction the ingredients can be added to the bread pan only after the bread pan is installed in the oven. If one attempts to fill the pan outside the oven chamber, steps must be taken to seal the central bottom aperture of the pan to prevent the ingredients from leaking. Consequently the housing surrounding the oven chamber of the Barradas patent opens to the front and back to provide top access to the pan.
U.S. Letters Pat. No. 5,493,955 to Belongia et al. is representative of a group of patents that disclose other embodiments of combined automatic breadmakers and oven appliances. This particular appliance has a laterally opening wide door. Specifically in this appliance a floor, enclosing surfaces and a door form the oven chamber. The door swings horizontally to create a front opening extending substantially to the oven floor to allow wide-side insertion and removal of a baking pan. When closed the door extends upwardly along the oven floor and rearwardly to a position directly above the pan. The pan has two driven kneading members based along its bottom for mixing dough. As in the Barradas patent it appears that the pan must be in position in the bottom of the oven chamber prior to the addition of ingredients to the pan. Consequently top access through the housing to the baking pan is required and the door is constructed to provide that access when it is opened.
U.S. Letters Pat. No. 5,590,585 to Morishita discloses another version of a breadmaker in which a pan is installed in a bread-making apparatus with a shaft that penetrates the bottom of the bread-making pan. As in the Belongia et al. patent a top cover is removed in order to add ingredients to the pan after it is installed in the bread making appliance.
Thus, each of the foregoing references are representative of appliances in which the bread-making pan must be positioned in the apparatus before ingredients can be added. This necessitates some access from the top of the apparatus as opposed to access merely from the front. If top access is not provided by a top opening member of the oven chamber, the overall height of the apparatus would be prohibitive. Top opening ovens pose another problem. Such construction eliminates the possibility of locating any type of heating element centrally of the top wall of the oven chamber. Using single heating elements, as in the floor can produce uneven heating and baking.
Generally such appliances sit on a counter to be stored and used under a wall cabinet. Other appliances are actually hung from a wall cabinet. With the popularity of such under-cabinet mounting there is a practical requirement for access to an oven chamber or the like solely through a front opening. For bread making appliances this means ingredients need to be added remotely from the oven chamber.
U.S. Letters Pat. No. 4,959,517 (1990) to Jump et al. discloses a microwave cooking assembly for various foods in which ingredients are added to a conventional mixing bowl. A top assembly serves as a cover and includes a self-contained stirrer with a paddle that moves through the food to mix the food. Various types of motor drives are disclosed including mechanical and electrical drives. However, the utilization of a separate cover with any sort of driving means complicates the overall structure and thereby increases the expense over other approaches in the prior art.
Consequently a need remains for a combined baking oven and automatic bread baking appliance that is adapted for front loading and that enables ingredients to be added remotely from the apparatus. Moreover, a need exists for an oven chamber in such an appliance that produces even heating and uniform cooking.